Project on programmable calculator user networks
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:26 pm
Hello everyone,
I am a student in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge currently doing a project on programmable calculators made by HP in the '70s. I am interested in the magnetic cards on which programs were stored and how/whether HP's user library was actually used. My research thus far has suggested that the infrastructure was not one imposed by HP but rather created sui generis by users. The HP-41 falls at the end of my story but I am especially interested in how different technologies (e.g. the barcode scanner) affected program sharing practices.
If you would be willing to discuss with me I would very much appreciate it! I am interested in the following questions:
1) How common were they to have? HPs were notoriously expensive and their being programmed in RPN may have led certain groups to turn to other companies like TI. I don’t know how much discussing RPN would figure into this account but I am interested in programming language entrenchment/preferences as well.
2) What was the incentive to enter programs into the HP user library? Was it financial? Did people code programs on spare cards and send them to each other? Was it enough to buy the various packs that HP marketed (Statistics, Flight, Medicine, etc.) or was this seen as facile/not trustworthy?
3) If you yourself worked with these calculators in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where were you working and to what extent was it desirable to shop for programs rather than simply writing them yourself? I am interested in how different calculators were used infrastructurally, and the fit/misfit with work practices.
Thanks so much, I can be reached at mcgovern.mikey@gmail.com. This is an academic account and I hope to both give the computing community information about the cultural history of programming as well as making these projects visible to historians of 20th century science!
Sincerely, Mikey McGovern
I am a student in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge currently doing a project on programmable calculators made by HP in the '70s. I am interested in the magnetic cards on which programs were stored and how/whether HP's user library was actually used. My research thus far has suggested that the infrastructure was not one imposed by HP but rather created sui generis by users. The HP-41 falls at the end of my story but I am especially interested in how different technologies (e.g. the barcode scanner) affected program sharing practices.
If you would be willing to discuss with me I would very much appreciate it! I am interested in the following questions:
1) How common were they to have? HPs were notoriously expensive and their being programmed in RPN may have led certain groups to turn to other companies like TI. I don’t know how much discussing RPN would figure into this account but I am interested in programming language entrenchment/preferences as well.
2) What was the incentive to enter programs into the HP user library? Was it financial? Did people code programs on spare cards and send them to each other? Was it enough to buy the various packs that HP marketed (Statistics, Flight, Medicine, etc.) or was this seen as facile/not trustworthy?
3) If you yourself worked with these calculators in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where were you working and to what extent was it desirable to shop for programs rather than simply writing them yourself? I am interested in how different calculators were used infrastructurally, and the fit/misfit with work practices.
Thanks so much, I can be reached at mcgovern.mikey@gmail.com. This is an academic account and I hope to both give the computing community information about the cultural history of programming as well as making these projects visible to historians of 20th century science!
Sincerely, Mikey McGovern